Changing Lanes | Dave Denison
I told myself it was a matter of gaining “tournament experience.” The bowling coach in my head was barking encouragement.
我告诉自己这是获得“锦标赛经验”的问题。我脑子里的保龄球教练正在大声鼓励。
Get out there and compete.
走出去参加比赛。
You miss every shot you don’t take.
你会错过每一个没有拍到的镜头。
You think you’re a good bowler?
你认为你是一个好的投球手吗？
How well can you bowl when there’s money on the line?
当有钱的时候，你能打多好？
But by now, after a couple decades of trying, I have low expectations.
但到目前为止，经过几十年的尝试，我的期望很低。
I’m an underachiever under pressure.
我是一个在压力下成绩不佳的人。
I’ve bowled poorly in every tournament I’ve ever entered.
在我参加的每场比赛中，我的保龄球表现都很差。
This one would be the same.
这个也是一样的。
It was the first day of March, and I was driving two hours north to Vermont from my home in Massachusetts to take part in the fifty-second annual Green Mountain Open.
那是三月的第一天，我从马萨诸塞州的家向北驱车两个小时前往佛蒙特州，参加第五十二届年度绿山公开赛。
By the time I got to the Rutland Bowlerama, the sleet had turned to spitting snow.
当我到达拉特兰鲍勒拉马时，雨夹雪已经变成了飞溅的雪花。
Getting out of my car, I took a moment to admire the vintage sign that beckons to drivers along this commercial strip: four jumbo colored letters that spell bowl , with the O in the shape of a black bowling ball.
下了车，我花了一点时间欣赏这条商业街沿线吸引司机的老式标志：四个巨型彩色字母拼成“碗”，其中 O 呈黑色保龄球形状。
I wheeled my ball caddy into the Bowlerama.
我把球童推入 Bowlerama。
It carries my best strike ball, a fifteen-pound Hammer Black Widow, and two fourteen-pound balls I use for spares.
它装有我最好的击球，一个十五磅重的黑寡妇锤子，和两个我用作备用的十四磅重的球。
Inside, the noon squads were in full swing.
里面，中午的小队正在紧锣密鼓地进行着。
The roll and the clatter.
滚动声和咔嗒声。
To me, the place looked like the perfect bowling center: traditional but modern, with thirty-two well-lit lanes.
对我来说，这个地方看起来就像一个完美的保龄球中心：传统但现代，有 32 条光线充足的球道。
Buzzing with activity.
活动嗡嗡作响。
My usual pre-bowling mood— why am I doing this?
我打保龄球前通常的心情——我为什么要这样做？
—instantly changed to this is exactly where I want to be .
——瞬间改变成这样，这正是我想要的。
I sized up the bowlers.
我打量了一下投球手的大小。
Men and women of all styles, mostly middle-aged or older.
男女款式各异，以中年以上居多。
There were five-person teams down toward one end and doubles teams filling up most of the rest of the lanes.
一端有五人队，双打队则占据了其余的大部分球道。
I was set to bowl in the singles competition at 2:30 p.m.
我原定于下午 2:30 参加单打比赛。
I noticed a banner above the pins in the middle lanes commemorating a rare event: a local bowler named Jon Wilbur rolled a 900 series here on January 14, 2019.
我注意到中间球道的球瓶上方有一个横幅，纪念一个罕见的事件：一位名叫乔恩·威尔伯 (Jon Wilbur) 的当地投球手于 2019 年 1 月 14 日在这里投出了 900 系列。
That’s the pinnacle of bowling: three consecutive 300 games, which means thirty-six strikes in a row.
这就是保龄球的巅峰：连续三场 300 场比赛，这意味着连续三十六次击中。
There are only forty bowlers in America who have achieved that feat in the last three decades, according to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), which maintains records and sets the rules for league bowling and tournaments.
根据美国保龄球大会 (USBC) 的数据，在过去三十年里，美国只有四十名保龄球运动员实现了这一壮举，该协会负责维持保龄球联赛和锦标赛的记录并制定规则。
I headed down to the office marked “Tournament Director” and introduced myself to presiding honcho Tom Smyrski.
我前往标有“赛事总监”的办公室，并向主持大佬汤姆·斯米尔斯基（Tom Smyrski）做了自我介绍。
Yes, he had received the entry form I’d faxed to him in February; all that was left now was paying the $36 fee and getting my lane assignment.
是的，他收到了我二月份传真给他的报名表；现在剩下的就是支付 36 美元的费用并获得我的车道分配。
Reentries were allowed, meaning if I didn’t like the result of my three games, I could pay another $36 and bowl again in the 4:30 p.m.
允许重新入场，这意味着如果我不喜欢三场比赛的结果，我可以另外支付 36 美元，并在下午 4:30 再次投球。
slot.
投币口。
For that matter, I could come back later in the season; the tournament ran on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays all the way through May 4.
就此而言，我可以在赛季晚些时候回归；比赛于周五、周六和周日进行，一直持续到 5 月 4 日。
The prize fund, assuming this year’s number of entries would be similar to last year’s, was estimated to be around $60,000.
假设今年的参赛作品数量与去年相似，奖金预计约为 60,000 美元。
That gets divided up between a lot of winners and strong finishers.
这被许多获胜者和强大的终结者所瓜分。
Let’s just say if I’d happened to get an extremely hot hand and notched the highest score in the singles category—and nobody from then until May topped it—I could have walked away with about $2,000.
这么说吧，如果我碰巧拿到了一把非常火爆的牌，并获得了单打类别的最高分——从那时起直到 5 月为止没有人能超越——我可能会得到大约 2,000 美元。
I did not register such a score, of course.
当然，我没有登记这样的分数。
In fact, I bowled below my regular league average in the first two games and only managed a ho-hum 197 in the third.
事实上，我在前两场比赛中的投球成绩低于常规联赛的平均水平，而在第三场比赛中我只打出了 197 分。
Alternating between two lanes, as one does in competitive play, I bowled with three gentlemen from Connecticut.
就像在竞技比赛中一样，我在两条球道之间轮流与来自康涅狄格州的三位绅士一起打保龄球。
They introduced themselves.
他们自我介绍。
I remarked to the one named Lou Weber that he had a good name for a bowler; Dick Weber was one of the greatest bowlers in the sport’s heyday of the 1950s and 1960s.
我对卢·韦伯（Lou Weber）的人说，他作为投球手有一个好名字。迪克·韦伯 (Dick Weber) 是 20 世纪 50 年代和 1960 年代保龄球运动全盛时期最伟大的投球手之一。
His son Pete Weber is perhaps the most famous pro bowler in America today, known to even non-bowlers because of the viral video of the time he won a tournament with a clutch strike in his final shot.
他的儿子皮特·韦伯（Pete Weber）也许是当今美国最著名的职业保龄球手，甚至非保龄球手也认识他，因为他在最后一投中凭借关键一击赢得锦标赛的视频在网上疯传。
Pumping his fist and gesticulating wildly, Weber turned toward a young fan he thought was rooting against him and shouted the now-immortal koan, “Who do you think you are?
韦伯挥舞着拳头，疯狂地打着手势，他转向一位他认为反对他的年轻粉丝，大声喊道这句不朽的公案：“你以为你是谁？
I am!” Lou Weber laughed and said he wished he was from that Weber family.
我是！卢·韦伯笑着说他希望自己是韦伯家族的人。
The number of bowling centers in the United States, which peaked at about twelve thousand in the mid-1960s, has been steadily falling for four decades.
美国保龄球中心的数量在 20 世纪 60 年代中期达到约一万二千个的顶峰，四十年来一直在稳步下降。
As I struggled to find a good shot, I glanced up at the monitor a couple lanes to my right and noticed that a woman named Darlene, looking like she had just walked off the set of Laverne and Shirley , was hitting all her spares and closed out with six straight strikes.
当我努力寻找一个好的镜头时，我抬头看了一眼右边几条车道的监视器，注意到一个名叫达琳的女人，看起来像是刚刚从拉弗恩和雪莉的片场走出来，正在击中她所有的备用球，并以六连击结束。
This is what is called for in tournament play: you have to be touched by an angel.
这就是锦标赛中所要求的：你必须被天使感动。
You’ve got to be in the zone.
你必须处于状态。
You have to bowl above your usual capabilities—in all three games.
在所有三场比赛中，你都必须超越你的平常能力。
One of the men on our lane, Charlie Laskowski, reeled off six strikes and recorded a 247 in his second game.
我们球道上的一名选手查理·拉斯科夫斯基 (Charlie Laskowski) 在第二场比赛中击出 6 次击球，打出 247 杆的成绩。
But he dropped to 156 in the third.
但第三局他的得分下降到了156分。
Lou Weber threw three solid games above 220 and finished three pins short of a 700 series.
卢·韦伯 (Lou Weber) 在 220 分以上的比赛中打出三场比赛，最终以 700 系列赛的成绩少了 3 个瓶。
At the end of the tournament’s first weekend, he was in first place in the singles category.
在比赛的第一个周末结束时，他获得了单打类别的第一名。
I thought, Enjoy it while it lasts !
我想，趁它还存在，好好享受吧！
The top bowlers tend to hang back and swoop in later when they’ve gauged what they’re up against.
顶尖的投球手往往会犹豫不决，然后在评估了自己的对手之后再猛扑过去。
Last year’s winner broke 800.
去年的冠军突破了800。
When our round was over, I learned that Laskowski was the organizer of thirty-one bowlers who drove up from Connecticut.
当我们的回合结束时，我得知拉斯科夫斯基是从康涅狄格州开车过来的三十一名投球手的组织者。
Many of them made a weekend out of it, skiing and bowling.
他们中的许多人利用滑雪和保龄球度过了一个周末。
He’s got an arthritic knee and hip, he told me, which limits his time on the slopes.
他告诉我，他的膝盖和臀部患有关节炎，这限制了他在斜坡上的时间。
He was limping while bowling, and by the third game, the stiffness seemed to catch up with him.
他在打保龄球时一瘸一拐，到了第三场比赛，僵硬似乎又赶上了他。
Stocky and sixtyish, you wouldn’t take Laskowski for an athlete.
拉斯科斯基身材矮胖，六十多岁，你不会认为他是一名运动员。
But he knows what to do with a bowling ball, how to release it, where to put it on the lane.
但他知道如何处理保龄球，如何释放它，将其放在球道上的哪个位置。
Even in professional bowling, the styles of delivery vary wildly; some bowlers are graceful and fluid, others are herky-jerky.
即使在职业保龄球比赛中，投球方式也千差万别。有些投球手优雅流畅，有些却急躁不已。
The canny bowlers know how their ball will react to the oil on the lane, and they know what combination of velocity and spin will get it to hit the pins just right.
精明的投球手知道他们的球对球道上的油会有什么反应，他们知道什么样的速度和旋转组合才能让球恰到好处地击中球瓶。
But the lane conditions are always changing.
但车道状况总是在变化。
What worked last week may not work next week.
上周有效的方法下周可能就行不通了。
Even as a tournament is in progress, the oil gets streaky or dries up in spots.
即使比赛正在进行中，油也会在某些地方出现条纹或干涸。
What worked for a game or two might not keep working.
对一两场游戏有效的方法可能不会持续有效。
Experienced bowlers know how to adjust.
经验丰富的投球手知道如何调整。
To be a bowler is to be at war with change.
成为一名投球手就意味着要与变化作斗争。
You feel it in the moment as you are bowling.
当你打保龄球的那一刻你就能感受到它。
But you also feel it whenever industry leaders talk about the need to “evolve.” You worry about looming transitions, as the bowling business struggles to adapt to the times.
但每当行业领导者谈论“发展”的必要性时，你也会感受到这一点。你担心迫在眉睫的转型，因为保龄球行业正在努力适应时代。
In my brief conversation with Laskowski, it became clear that this tournament, at this mostly unchanged place, is an annual ritual, a refuge.
在我与拉斯科夫斯基的简短交谈中，我清楚地意识到，在这个几乎没有变化的地方举办的这场比赛是一年一度的仪式，是一个避难所。
He told me something that impressed me as much as his ability to hit 247 while hobbled: this was his forty-fourth year bowling in the Green Mountain Open.
他告诉我一些让我印象深刻的事情，就像他一瘸一拐地打出 247 杆的能力一样：这是他在绿山公开赛上打保龄球的第四十四年了。
Bowling is an old sport—ancient, really—but it’s not easy to maintain traditions like Laskowski’s long-running Vermont pilgrimage.
保龄球是一项古老的运动——确实很古老——但要保持拉斯科夫斯基长期在佛蒙特州朝圣的传统并不容易。
There’s a lot of churn in the bowling world; alleys go out of business all the time.
保龄球界有很多变动。小巷总是不营业。
I bowled in leagues for several years at a venerable old heap just outside of Boston.
我在波士顿郊外一处古老的球场打了几年保龄球。
Opened in 1942 and originally called the Turnpike Bowladrome (for its location on the Concord Turnpike in Cambridge), it had one level devoted to candlepin bowling, a once-popular New England variant, and an upper floor for regular tenpin.
球场于 1942 年开业，最初被称为 Turnpike Bowladrome（因其位于剑桥康科德收费公路上），一层专门用于烛台保龄球（一种曾经在新英格兰流行的变种），上层则用于常规十瓶保龄球比赛。
I met people in the leagues with whom I would otherwise never have rubbed shoulders: a genial postal worker with noticeably less genial political views; a retired military man who also ran the nearby Air Force base’s bowling alley; and a Thai immigrant who told me he developed his technique by watching YouTube videos—he delivered the ball with a precise, balletic style.
我遇到了联盟中的一些人，否则我永远不会与他们擦肩而过：一个和蔼可亲的邮政工作人员，但政治观点明显不那么和蔼可亲；一名退役军人，还经营附近空军基地的保龄球馆；一位泰国移民告诉我，他通过观看 YouTube 视频提高了自己的技术——他以精确的芭蕾舞风格传球。
I even got to know the mechanic who fixed the automatic pinsetters and ran the machine that oiled the lanes.
我什至认识了修理自动置瓶机并运行给球道上油的机器的机械师。
But developers had been eyeing the land for years, and finally, in its seventy-fifth year, the place then called Lanes & Games fell to the wrecking ball, replaced by a “luxury” apartment complex.
但开发商多年来一直对这块土地虎视眈眈，最终，在其七十五岁的时候，当时名为 Lanes & Games 的地方陷入了废墟，取而代之的是一座“豪华”公寓大楼。
Most longtime bowlers can tell a similar story.
大多数长期投球手都能讲述类似的故事。
Their home lanes were sitting on land too valuable to justify its use as a bowling alley.
他们的主场所在的土地太有价值，无法证明其用作保龄球馆的合理性。
Or their family-owned center had no one to maintain the business.
或者他们的家族中心没有人来维持业务。
Or there just weren’t as many regulars as there used to be.
或者只是没有以前那么多常客了。
It’s been said that the industry overbuilt when the development of automatic pinsetters in the 1940s led to a bowling boom in the 1950s and 1960s.
据说，20 世纪 40 年代自动置瓶机的发展导致了 1950 年代和 1960 年代保龄球运动的繁荣，导致该行业过度建设。
Bowling leagues were especially popular in the industrial Midwest, where factory workers could bowl and drink beer after a shift.
保龄球联赛在中西部工业区特别受欢迎，工厂工人下班后可以打保龄球并喝啤酒。
Budweiser sponsored a team in 1954 that launched bowlers Dick Weber and Don Carter to fame.
1954 年，百威啤酒赞助了一支球队，使保龄球手迪克·韦伯 (Dick Weber) 和唐·卡特 (Don Carter) 成名。
Four years later, the Professional Bowlers Association was founded in Akron, Ohio, giving superstars like Weber, Carter, and the dominant left-hander Earl Anthony the chance to go on tour and make a good living.
四年后，职业保龄球手协会在俄亥俄州阿克伦成立，为韦伯、卡特和占主导地位的左手投手厄尔·安东尼等超级巨星提供了巡回演出并过上美好生活的机会。
But the number of bowling centers in the United States, which peaked at about twelve thousand in the mid-1960s, has been steadily falling for four decades.
但美国保龄球中心的数量在 20 世纪 60 年代中期达到了约一万二千个的顶峰，四十年来一直在稳步下降。
The number was down to about 3,800 in 2023, according to the USBC.
据 USBC 称，到 2023 年，这一数字将降至 3,800 左右。
Political scientist Robert D.
政治学家罗伯特·D.
Putnam famously cited the decline of league bowling in his 2000 book Bowling Alone as one of many indicators that civic engagement was collapsing across America, noting that league bowling declined by 40 percent between 1980 and 1993.
普特南在其 2000 年出版的著作《独自保龄球》(Bowling Alone) 中引用了保龄球联盟的衰落，作为全美公民参与度崩溃的众多指标之一，他指出，1980 年至 1993 年间，保龄球联盟下降了 40%。
The updated figure is even more dramatic: from a high of about 9.8 million league bowlers at the end of the 1970s, the number of USBC members in leagues for the 2022–23 season was 1.09 million.
更新后的数字更加引人注目：从 1970 年代末约 980 万联盟投球手的高点，到 2022-23 赛季联盟中 USBC 成员的数量为 109 万。
That’s a decline of 89 percent.
下降了 89%。
When I started to bowl, the tired old 1976 hit “More Than a Feeling” assaulted my ears.
当我开始打保龄球时，1976 年的老歌“More Than a Feeling”冲击着我的耳朵。
Despite his book’s title, Putnam’s discussion of bowling takes up about four pages in a five-hundred-page tome.
尽管书名如此，普特南对保龄球的讨论在一本五百页的巨著中却占据了大约四页。
It occurs in a chapter about “informal social connections.” After documenting dwindling participation in political and civic groups, as well as falling membership in unions and attendance at religious services, he notes that fewer people are playing cards, having dinner with friends, and going on picnics.
它出现在关于“非正式社会联系”的一章中。在记录了对政治和公民团体的参与度不断减少，以及工会会员和参加宗教仪式的人数下降后，他指出，玩牌、与朋友共进晚餐和野餐的人越来越少。
In fact, he points out, bowling was one of the only sports that hadn’t seen major declines in overall participation in recent decades.
事实上，他指出，保龄球运动是近几十年来仅有的总体参与度没有大幅下降的运动之一。
But he saw the drop-off in league bowling specifically as worrisome.
但他认为保龄球联赛的下滑尤其令人担忧。
“By requiring regular participation with a diverse set of acquaintances,” he writes, it represents “a form of sustained social capital that is not matched by an occasional pickup game.”
他写道：“通过要求与不同的熟人定期参与，它代表了“一种持续的社会资本形式，这是偶尔的搭讪游戏所无法比拟的。”
It’s true that bowling with a diverse group of acquaintances—as I do in my current league—can widen one’s horizons.
确实，与不同的熟人一起打保龄球——就像我在目前的联盟中所做的那样——可以开阔一个人的视野。
But the distinction Putnam makes between league bowlers and those he sees as “bowling alone” is one he conjured from statistics rather than from immersion in actual bowling culture.
但普特南在联盟保龄球手和他认为的“独自打保龄球”的人之间做出的区分是他根据统计数据而不是沉浸在实际保龄球文化中得出的。
There’s not always a clear line: for several years, I met for regular Sunday morning bowling with a couple of close friends, and a wider circle of their friends.
并不总是有明确的界限：多年来，我定期与几个亲密的朋友以及他们的更广泛的朋友圈子一起参加周日早上的保龄球比赛。
We named our informal league and kept stats.
我们命名了我们的非正式联赛并保存了统计数据。
That variety of “recreational league,” which doesn’t register with the USBC, exists in bowling centers around the country.
全国各地的保龄球中心都存在这种未在 USBC 注册的“休闲联盟”。
Often based on strong bonds rather than weak ones, it would also be an important form of social capital, though harder to quantify.
它通常基于强纽带而不是弱纽带，它也将是社会资本的一种重要形式，尽管难以量化。
Even the aspersions cast on the solitary bowler make no sense to a regular bowler if taken literally.
如果从字面上理解，即使是对孤独投球手的诽谤对于普通投球手来说也是毫无意义的。
The people we see bowling solo are inevitably there for practice because they are in a league.
我们看到的独奏保龄球的人不可避免地会在那里练习，因为他们在一个联盟中。
Putnam’s contention, though, was that something vast had shifted in the culture.
不过，普特南的观点是，文化中发生了巨大的变化。
He noticed that while participation in most sports had dropped in recent decades, people were spending more time and money watching athletic events.
他注意到，虽然近几十年来大多数体育运动的参与度有所下降，但人们花更多的时间和金钱观看体育赛事。
Television and other electronic media were keeping people in their homes, he argued.
他认为，电视和其他电子媒体让人们呆在家里。
His conclusion is even harder to refute today, when so many people are living virtual lives.
今天，当这么多人过着虚拟生活时，他的结论更难以反驳。
And he’s not wrong that bowling leagues don’t fit into people’s lives the way they did at the middle of the last century.
他并没有错，保龄球联赛不再像上世纪中叶那样融入人们的生活。
Yet the decline in league bowling wasn’t just because people turned into couch potatoes.
然而，保龄球联赛的衰落不仅仅是因为人们变成了沙发土豆。
The disappearance of factory jobs, which gave working life regular and reliable rhythms, was bad for a lot of urban bowling alleys.
工厂工作岗位的消失给工作生活带来了规律和可靠的节奏，但这对许多城市保龄球馆来说是不利的。
Historian Andrew Hurley has noted that before World War II many industrial firms sponsored bowling teams for their workers, with some of the largest plants supporting as many as two hundred teams.
历史学家安德鲁·赫尔利 (Andrew Hurley) 指出，二战前，许多工业公司为其工人赞助保龄球队，一些最大的工厂为多达 200 支保龄球队提供赞助。
“In heavily industrialized cities where many factories operated around the clock,” Hurley wrote, “it was not uncommon to find alleys hosting leagues on three separate shifts during weekdays.” The gradual deindustrialization of the 1970s and 1980s took away these core customers and created a vicious cycle.
赫尔利写道：“在工业化程度较高的城市里，许多工厂昼夜不停地运转，在工作日里，在小巷里分三班举办联赛的情况并不少见。” 20世纪70年代和1980年代的逐步去工业化夺走了这些核心客户，并形成了恶性循环。
The consolidation of the bowling business made it harder for bowlers to stay in a league: when a neighborhood bowling center closes, league bowlers are left high and dry.
保龄球业务的整合使保龄球手更难留在联盟中：当附近的保龄球中心关闭时，联盟的保龄球手就会陷入困境。
Many of the people I bowled with at our now-demolished center haven’t quit occasional bowling, but the loss of the local lanes ended their league participation.
与我一起在现已拆除的中心打保龄球的许多人还没有放弃偶尔打保龄球，但当地球道的消失终止了他们对联赛的参与。
More so than with most other sports, bowlers exist in a relentlessly commercial arena.
与大多数其他运动相比，保龄球运动员存在于无情的商业舞台上。
If you want to practice tennis or basketball, you can go out to a public court.
如果您想练习网球或篮球，您可以去公共球场。
Stay all day if you want; no charge.
如果你愿意的话，可以呆上一整天；不收费。
If you want to get better at throwing a baseball or football, all you need is an open space and someone to practice with.
如果您想提高投掷棒球或足球的能力，您所需要的只是一个开放的空间和一个可以练习的人。
But outside of competitive collegiate bowling and the active practice of the sport on military bases, bowlers depend on proprietors, who need to sustain a capital-intensive business.
但除了竞争激烈的大学保龄球运动和军事基地的这项运动的积极实践之外，保龄球手还依赖于业主，而业主需要维持资本密集型业务。
When factory-sponsored leagues declined, the bowling industry embarked on a ceaseless campaign to find new customers, often alienating the older ones in the process.
当工厂赞助的联赛衰落时，保龄球行业开始了一场不断寻找新客户的活动，在这个过程中往往疏远了老客户。
Do proprietors want to run a center for serious bowlers?
业主想为认真的保龄球手经营一个中心吗？
Or do they want a recreation center with rock-climbing walls and minigolf, blacklight bowling, and “family fun”?
或者他们想要一个有攀岩墙、迷你高尔夫球场、黑光保龄球和“家庭乐趣”的娱乐中心？
I asked Tom Smyrski at the Rutland Bowlerama, who is now in his twenty-eighth year running the Green Mountain tournament, whether participation has fallen off.
我问拉特兰鲍勒拉马球场的汤姆·斯米尔斯基（Tom Smyrski），他主持绿山锦标赛已经二十八年了，参与度是否有所下降。
He looked at a bunch of sheets posted on his office wall.
他看着办公室墙上贴的一堆床单。
Entries peaked most recently in 2016, but when the pandemic hit in 2020, the tournament had to shut down early—and was cancelled for 2021.
最近一次参赛人数在 2016 年达到顶峰，但当 2020 年疫情爆发时，赛事不得不提前关闭，并在 2021 年被取消。
Now the numbers are slowly recovering; when we met, Smyrski expected about 1,200 people to bowl in the GMO this year.
现在数字正在慢慢恢复；当我们见面时，Smyrski 预计今年将有大约 1,200 人参加 GMO 比赛。
But youth participation at the Bowlerama is not what it used to be.
但青年人对 Bowlerama 的参与度已不再像以前那样了。
“We used to fill this place up with kids,” Smyrski told me.
“我们过去常常把这个地方挤满了孩子，”斯米尔斯基告诉我。
Not so much anymore.
不再那么多了。
“I think bowling is going downhill,” he said.
“我认为保龄球正在走下坡路，”他说。
Bowling has been going downhill for a long time.
保龄球运动长期以来一直在走下坡路。
Still, the outlook isn’t uniformly grim.
尽管如此，前景并不总是那么严峻。
On the very day I was bowling in Rutland, the USBC’s annual nationwide Open Championship for league bowlers kicked off in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
就在我在拉特兰打保龄球的那天，USBC 一年一度的全国联盟保龄球公开锦标赛在路易斯安那州巴吞鲁日拉开帷幕。
(It runs through July.) The USBC claims that the Open Championship is “the world’s largest annual participatory sporting event, attracting 45,000 to 75,000 participants.”
（持续到 7 月。）USBC 声称公开锦标赛是“世界上最大的年度参与性体育赛事，吸引了 45,000 至 75,000 名参与者。”
More than fifty million Americans bowl at least once during the year, according to the most recent survey of American sports participation by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).
根据体育与健身行业协会 (SFIA) 对美国体育参与度的最新调查，超过 5000 万美国人在一年中至少打过一次保龄球。
Bowling outranks golf, tennis, basketball, yoga—just about all fitness activities, other than hiking, running, and walking.
保龄球运动的排名超过了高尔夫、网球、篮球、瑜伽——除了远足、跑步和步行之外的几乎所有健身活动。
It’s even ahead of pickleball, the fastest-growing sport, now at nearly twenty million players.
它甚至领先于泡菜球（pickleball），这是增长最快的运动，目前有近 2000 万玩家。
It’s true that the majority of occasional bowlers are just out to chuck a ball down a lane.
确实，大多数偶尔投球的人只是出去把球扔到球道上。
But with more than a million league bowlers around the nation—and over eight million people considered by SFIA to be “core participants,” defined as bowling at least thirteen times a year—the trade in high-end bowling balls, shoes, and other equipment is strong.
但全国有超过 100 万联盟保龄球运动员，并且有超过 800 万人被 SFIA 视为“核心参与者”（定义为每年至少打保龄球 13 次），高端保龄球、保龄球鞋和其他装备的贸易十分强劲。
And as long as alleys find ways to draw new customers, there will always be those who start trying to figure out how to get good.
只要小巷找到了吸引新顾客的方法，就总会有人开始尝试找出如何获得成功的方法。
(One way is to buy a better bowling ball.) Some will get sucked in, start competing regularly, and end up hooked on the most popular declining sport in America.
（一种方法是购买更好的保龄球。）有些人会被吸引，开始定期参加比赛，最终迷上了这项美国最受欢迎的衰落运动。
The first thing Tom Smyrski told me in Rutland was that the Bowlerama was “a family-owned operation.” The center was opened in 1956 by Guido and Clementine Forte.
汤姆·斯米尔斯基 (Tom Smyrski) 在拉特兰告诉我的第一件事就是 Bowlerama 是“一家家族经营的企业”。该中心由吉多·福特 (Guido Forte) 和克莱门汀·福特 (Clementine Forte) 于 1956 年开设。
Their sons Guido and Clement kept it going, and it is run today by three of their sons, the third generation of Fortes.
他们的儿子吉多 (Guido) 和克莱门特 (Clement) 继续经营着这家公司，如今由他们的三个儿子（福尔特斯的第三代）经营。
That’s the business model that is now in jeopardy.
这就是现在处于危险之中的商业模式。
What’s taking over, naturally, is big corporate chain ownership.
自然，接管的是大企业连锁所有权。
Take Bowlero Corp., which has been buying up independent bowling alleys, often those that haven’t seen any new investment since the 1980s, and renovating them with the signature Bowlero look: vaguely retro but full of neon lights and thumping music for a more clubbish atmosphere.
以 Bowlero Corp. 为例，该公司一直在收购独立的保龄球馆，通常是那些自 20 世纪 80 年代以来就没有任何新投资的保龄球馆，并以典型的 Bowlero 外观对其进行翻新：略显复古，但充满霓虹灯和震耳欲聋的音乐，营造出更俱乐部的氛围。
The company has bought out family businesses and small to mid-sized chains such as Lucky Strike, AMF, and Brunswick Zone.
该公司收购了 Lucky Strike、AMF 和 Brunswick Zone 等家族企业和中小型连锁店。
With more than three hundred locations, and plans to grow to about seven hundred, Bowlero is now the largest bowling chain in the world.
Bowlero 拥有 300 多家保龄球馆，并计划扩大到约 700 家，现已成为世界上最大的保龄球连锁店。
By the end of 2024, the company had rebranded as Lucky Strike Entertainment, signaling their plans to expand beyond bowling into the operation of family entertainment centers and water parks.
到 2024 年底，该公司已更名为 Lucky Strike Entertainment，这表明他们计划将业务范围从保龄球业务扩展到家庭娱乐中心和水上乐园的运营。
In a widely discussed investigation last year for The Lever , journalist Amos Barshad found that Bowlero’s boom was enabled by private equity groups like Apollo Global Management and Atairos.
在《The Lever》去年进行的一项广泛讨论的调查中，记者 Amos Barshad 发现 Bowlero 的繁荣是由 Apollo Global Management 和 Atairos 等私募股权集团推动的。
“As the company has expanded,” he wrote, “it has amassed massive debts, all while successfully enriching its founder and CEO.” Barshad included comments made by that CEO, Tom Shannon, that have not endeared him to the community of hardcore bowlers: “‘I don’t think anyone takes bowling seriously,’ he once said.
“随着公司的扩张，”他写道，“它积累了巨额债务，同时成功地让创始人兼首席执行官致富。”巴沙德引用了首席执行官汤姆·香农 (Tom Shannon) 的评论，这些评论并没有让他受到铁杆保龄球手社区的喜爱：“‘我认为没有人认真对待保龄球，’他曾经说过。
‘Why would you?’” Shannon had entered the business in the late 1990s with the purchase of the Bowlmor center in Manhattan’s Union Square.
‘你为什么要这么做？’”香农在 20 世纪 90 年代末购买了曼哈顿联合广场的鲍尔莫中心 (Bowlmor center)，进入了这一行业。
As he expanded under the Bowlmor and later the Bowlero and Lucky Strike brands, he pursued a vision to make bowling a more “upscale” part of the urban nightlife scene.
当他在 Bowlmor 以及后来的 Bowlero 和 Lucky Strike 品牌下扩张时，他追求的愿景是让保龄球成为城市夜生活场景中更“高档”的一部分。
He made his famous comment about the unserious and “ironic” side of bowling in a 2011 interview with Bloomberg Enterprise .
2011 年，他在接受彭博社企业采访时对保龄球不严肃和“讽刺”的一面发表了著名的评论。
He later clarified that the statement “was made in the context of ‘our’ bowlers, and Bowlmor customers don’t take the game seriously.”
他后来澄清说，这一声明“是在‘我们的’保龄球手的背景下做出的，而 Bowlmor 的客户并不认真对待这项比赛。”
Where were the bowling proprietors forging their own way, looking for a promising path for traditional bowling outside the Bowlero juggernaut?
保龄球业主在哪里开拓自己的道路，在鲍莱罗巨头之外寻找传统保龄球的有前途的道路？
By 2013, Bowlmor had absorbed AMF, and Shannon’s new company ran 264 U.S. bowling centers and eight in Mexico.
到 2013 年，Bowlmor 收购了 AMF，Shannon 的新公司在美国经营着 264 个保龄球中心，其中 8 个在墨西哥。
His strategy all along has been to downplay league bowling.
他的策略一直是淡化联赛保龄球。
In an interview with Bowlers Journal International in 2014, he reasoned, “More people go out on a Saturday than on a Tuesday.” You didn’t have to read between the lines to see that he considered weeknight league bowling a relic of the past.
在 2014 年接受《国际保龄球杂志》采访时，他推断：“周六外出的人数比周二多。”你不必从字里行间看出他认为周末保龄球联赛已经成为过去。
Bowlero’s purchase of the Professional Bowlers Association in 2019 caused even greater alarm.
Bowlero 在 2019 年收购职业保龄球协会 (Professional Bowlers Association) 的举动引发了更大的恐慌。
Shannon likes to go on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money to talk up his company’s share prices; he once again alienated bowlers when he suggested his interest in the PBA was mainly “as an infomercial” for the Bowlero brand.
香农喜欢在吉姆·克莱默 (Jim Cramer) 的《疯狂金钱》(Mad Money) 上谈论他公司的股价。当他暗示自己对 PBA 的兴趣主要是“作为 Bowlero 品牌的电视广告”时，他再次疏远了投球手。
Earlier this spring, bowling fans worried that Bowlero would bring an end to the moderate success the PBA has found in broadcasting its events on Fox in recent years: the contract with Fox was set to expire in June, and according to PBA commissioner Tom Clark, negotiations for renewal were ongoing.
今年春天早些时候，保龄球迷担心鲍莱罗将结束 PBA 近年来在福克斯转播其赛事方面所取得的适度成功：与福克斯的合同将于 6 月到期，据 PBA 专员汤姆·克拉克 (Tom Clark) 称，续约谈判正在进行中。
Meanwhile, purists lament a new trend dovetailing with the consolidation of the bowling industry.
与此同时，纯粹主义者对与保龄球行业整合相吻合的新趋势感到遗憾。
Several equipment companies are pushing a labor-saving innovation for proprietors called stringpins.
几家设备公司正在为业主推出一项名为“stringpins”的省力创新。
Their sales pitch is that the automatic pinsetters of yesteryear, heavy equipment with thousands of parts, are too cumbersome and expensive; they require constant maintenance, which means having skilled mechanics on staff.
他们的推销口号是，过去的自动置瓶机是拥有数千个零件的重型设备，过于笨重且昂贵；它们需要持续维护，这意味着需要配备熟练的机械师。
The solution is a new simplified pinsetter, in which the ten pins have black nylon cords attached.
解决方案是一种新的简化置瓶机，其中十个销钉附有黑色尼龙绳。
The pins fall and are pulled up by the cords and reset.
销钉落下并被绳索拉起并重置。
One of the selling points is that you can lay off the mechanics; another is that stringpin setters use much less electricity.
卖点之一是你可以解雇机械师；另一个原因是弦销设定器使用的电力要少得多。
I recall reading about stringpins back in 2012.
我记得在 2012 年读过有关弦针的文章。
A Kansas City firm called White Hutchinson, which advises companies in “location-based leisure & entertainment,” produced a report called It’s time to reinvent the game of bowling .
堪萨斯城一家名为 White Hutchinson 的公司为“基于地点的休闲和娱乐”公司提供咨询服务，该公司制作了一份名为“是时候重新发明保龄球运动了”的报告。
Their idea was to move away from the heavy bowling balls some customers found “intimidating” and to revive duckpin bowling, which uses short, squat pins and a smaller ball.
他们的想法是摆脱一些顾客认为“令人生畏”的沉重保龄球，并复兴鸭瓶式保龄球，这种保龄球使用短而深的球瓶和较小的球。
The problem was that no company was manufacturing pinsetters for the declining game of duckpins.
问题是没有公司为日渐衰落的鸭子游戏生产置瓶机。
White Hutchinson noted that stringpin setters have been around since 1963 and are in use around the world.
White Hutchinson 指出，弦销设定器自 1963 年以来就已出现，并在世界各地使用。
So, combine the game of duckpins with stringpin setters, and you have the future of bowling!
因此，将鸭瓶游戏与弦瓶二传手结合起来，您就拥有了保龄球的未来！
It sounded ludicrous.
听起来很可笑。
I had never been to a duckpins alley; though there are a few in New England, they’re mostly concentrated in Maryland.
我从来没有去过鸭子巷；虽然新英格兰也有一些，但主要集中在马里兰州。
And I assumed no real bowling alleys would want to fiddle around with cords.
我认为没有真正的保龄球馆愿意摆弄绳子。
I was wrong.
我错了。
The Los Angeles Times reported two years ago that alleys nationwide, including six of Bowlero’s two dozen centers in Southern California, were ditching traditional pinsetters.
《洛杉矶时报》两年前报道称，全国范围内的小巷，包括南加州鲍莱罗的两打中心中的六家，正在放弃传统的置瓶机。
Both of the Boston-area centers I resorted to after the 2017 demise of Lanes & Games have recently converted.
2017 年 Lanes & Games 停业后，我曾去过的两个波士顿地区中心最近都进行了改造。
It’s likely that the industry’s “innovations” won’t make any difference to the families who take the kids to the lanes for a birthday party or to the Saturday night crowd.
对于那些带孩子去小巷参加生日聚会或周六晚上人群的家庭来说，该行业的“创新”很可能不会产生任何影响。
But they cause many active bowlers to worry about the end of the sport as they know it.
但它们让许多活跃的保龄球手担心这项运动的终结，因为他们知道这一点。
I used to bowl with a transplanted Midwesterner who refused to recognize candlepin bowling or duckpins as real bowling.
我曾经和一个移居中西部的人一起打保龄球，他拒绝承认烛瓶保龄球或鸭瓶保龄球是真正的保龄球。
A while ago, he drove to one of our occasional back-up centers called Boston Bowl, known for staying open late and offering both candlepin and tenpin.
不久前，他开车去了我们临时备用的一个中心，名为 Boston Bowl，该中心以营业至深夜并提供烛台和十个十瓶而闻名。
After a few frames at the tenpin end, he realized to his horror that he was rolling the ball at pins on strings.
在十瓶端打了几局后，他惊恐地意识到自己正在用绳子上的瓶瓶滚动球。
He left quickly, never to return.
他很快就离开了，再也没有回来。
Nor has he patronized Town Line Ten Pin, in nearby Malden.
他也没有光顾过莫尔登附近的 Town Line Ten Pin。
Town Line became Town Line Luxury Lanes a few years ago, adding leather seats and going for a more upscale vibe.
几年前，Town Line 更名为 Town Line Luxury Lanes，增加了真皮座椅，营造出更高档的氛围。
Now it’s also a stringpin center.
现在它也是一个弦钉中心。
In the interest of journalistic inquiry, I decided I would make a February road trip to take in some of the latest developments.
出于新闻调查的兴趣，我决定进行一次二月的公路旅行，以了解一些最新进展。
I dropped in on a Bowlero in the old mill town of Lowell and then drove to Town Line.
我在老磨坊小镇洛厄尔 (Lowell) 顺便搭了一辆 Bowlero，然后开车前往镇线 (Town Line)。
It was a Sunday afternoon, the worst time to go.
那是一个周日下午，是最糟糕的时间。
The Bowlero was noisy and crowded, with the lights dim and the music loud.
Bowlero 很吵闹，很拥挤，灯光昏暗，音乐喧闹。
When I started to bowl, the tired old 1976 hit “More Than a Feeling” assaulted my ears.
当我开始打保龄球时，1976 年的老歌“More Than a Feeling”冲击着我的耳朵。
I was bowling next to an elderly man—yes, bowling alone—who competes in two senior leagues during the week.
我在一位老人旁边打保龄球——是的，独自打保龄球——他本周参加两个高级联赛。
He assured me that during the weekdays, the lights are up, and the music is off.
他向我保证，在工作日，灯光是亮着的，音乐是关闭的。
To its credit, the center hasn’t given up on leagues.
值得赞扬的是，该中心并没有放弃联赛。
The attendant told me that local league bowlers who come to practice get a discount, plus eight free games a week.
服务员告诉我，当地联赛的保龄球手来练习可以享受折扣，而且每周还可以免费参加八场比赛。
For the rest of us, it’s pricey.
对于我们其他人来说，这是昂贵的。
I paid $42.45 for five games.
我为五场比赛支付了 42.45 美元。
That’s the Bowlero model: raise prices and cut costs.
这就是鲍莱罗模型：提高价格并削减成本。
It’s the same formula at Town Line in Malden.
莫尔登的 Town Line 也是如此。
I bowled three games ($28), trying to discern what felt different when the pins are on cords.
我打了三场比赛（28 美元），试图辨别当球瓶挂在绳子上时的感觉有何不同。
There were a few times a corner pin fell over when I’m pretty sure it hadn’t been grazed by another pin.
有几次，当我很确定角销没有被另一个销擦过时，它会掉下来。
But for the most part, the companies have worked diligently to make the change unnoticeable to the recreational bowler, designing the system so that the cords are almost invisible.
但在大多数情况下，这些公司都在努力让休闲保龄球手不会注意到这种变化，将系统设计得几乎看不见电线。
After the ball hits, a dark partition drops down to hide the puppetry.
球击中后，一个黑色的隔板落下以隐藏木偶。
Still, I wouldn’t return, even if I lived in Malden.
尽管如此，即使我住在马尔登，我也不会回来。
Someone had mentioned that the owner of Town Line has had many business interests, including a trailer park and a nightclub.
有人提到Town Line的老板有很多商业利益，包括拖车公园和夜总会。
When I got home, I looked him up.
回到家后，我抬头看了看他。
A banner on his Facebook page depicts the president with his fist raised (fight, fight, fight) and a billboard that says pray for trump .
他的 Facebook 页面上的一条横幅描绘了总统举起拳头（战斗、战斗、战斗）和一块写着“为特朗普祈祷”的广告牌。
He also turned up in the Boston Herald in a story from 2018: his sixty-eight-year-old father, described as “the wealthy patriarch of a North Shore business dynasty,” had tried to run him down with an SUV in the Town Line parking lot.
他还出现在《波士顿先驱报》2018 年的一篇报道中：他 68 岁的父亲被描述为“北岸商业王朝的富有的族长”，曾试图在 Town Line 停车场用一辆 SUV 撞倒他。
The son was reported to have suffered chest and arm injuries.
据报道，儿子的胸部和手臂受伤。
Turns out the elder had accused his scion of stealing $2 million, and the son was suing his father for breach of contract and “fraudulent misrepresentation.” Family fun at the luxury lanes!
原来，长辈指控他的子孙偷了 200 万美元，而儿子则起诉父亲违反合同和“欺诈性失实陈述”。豪华巷子里的家庭乐趣！
Hijinks like the parking lot assault at Town Line are a reminder of bowling’s ambiguous place in American life.
像 Town Line 停车场袭击这样的狂欢事件提醒人们保龄球在美国生活中的模糊地位。
In the early decades of the last century, bowling alleys were seedy places, often in underground establishments devoted to tobacco and gambling.
在上世纪初期的几十年里，保龄球馆都是肮脏的地方，通常位于专门从事烟草和赌博的地下场所。
Boris Karloff is shot in a bowling alley in the 1932 movie Scarface , not the last time bowling would figure in film noir.
鲍里斯·卡洛夫 (Boris Karloff) 在 1932 年的电影《疤面煞星》中的保龄球馆中被枪杀，这并不是保龄球最后一次出现在黑色电影中。
But then, in the post-World War II era, bowling centers opened up in suburban areas and marketed themselves as family friendly.
但后来，在第二次世界大战后的时代，保龄球中心在郊区开业，并以家庭友好的方式推销自己。
It’s these contradictory registers that 1998’s The Big Lebowski revels in.
1998 年的《大勒博夫斯基》正是对这些矛盾的语体着迷。
As literature and film professor Bradley D.
正如文学和电影教授布拉德利·D.
Clissold of Memorial University in Newfoundland wrote several years ago, Lebowski ’s Hollywood Star Lanes is “decidedly no PG-13 bowling alley.
纽芬兰纪念大学的克利索尔德几年前写道，莱博斯基的好莱坞明星球道“绝对不是 PG-13 保龄球馆。
Patrons liberally curse, smoke, and drink alcohol”—not to mention that “one of the regular league bowlers is a known convicted pedophile.” (The vintage Hollywood Star Lanes, where Lebowski was filmed, opened in 1960 but hasn’t survived: it was demolished in 2002.)
顾客们随意咒骂、抽烟、喝酒”——更不用说“一名常规联盟保龄球手是一名众所周知的恋童癖罪犯。” （老式好莱坞星巷 (Hollywood Star Lanes) 是 Lebowski 的拍摄地，于 1960 年开业，但未能幸存：于 2002 年被拆除。）
It remained a heavy drinking crowd, Mitchell admits, recounting that the first time they brought PBA bowlers in, things got so wild that some pros ended up bowling barefoot or shirtless.
米切尔承认，这里仍然是一群酗酒的人，他回忆道，当他们第一次把 PBA 保龄球手带进来时，事情变得如此疯狂，以至于一些职业球员最终赤脚或光着膀子打保龄球。
Perfidy, however, was not what I was looking for on my February excursions.
然而，背信弃义并不是我二月旅行中所寻找的。
What I had in mind was someone who ran a bowling alley as if they liked traditional bowling.
我想到的是一个经营保龄球馆的人，就好像他们喜欢传统保龄球一样。
Where were the bowling proprietors forging their own way, looking for a promising path for traditional bowling outside the Bowlero juggernaut?
保龄球业主在哪里开拓自己的道路，在鲍莱罗巨头之外寻找传统保龄球的有前途的道路？
Who see a future that doesn’t envision duckpins on strings or otherwise turning bowling into a carnival game?
谁预见到未来不会设想将鸭脚放在弦上或以其他方式将保龄球变成嘉年华游戏？
For that, I traveled to Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, having heard the center was drawing league bowlers from far and wide.
为此，我前往缅因州波特兰市的 Bayside Bowl，听说该中心正在吸引来自世界各地的联盟投球手。
Something of a phenomenon in the bowling world, Bayside opened in 2010 with twelve lanes in an old warehouse in a neglected part of the city.
Bayside 于 2010 年开业，在保龄球界堪称一种现象，拥有 12 条球道，位于城市一个被忽视的地区的一个旧仓库中。
It expanded to twenty lanes in 2016.
2016年扩建至20条车道。
Along the way, it attracted the interest of the PBA, which brought televised events to the center, where an avid fan base created a new kind of “electric” atmosphere that at first unsettled pro bowlers used to a more sedate environment.
一路走来，它吸引了 PBA 的兴趣，将电视转播的赛事带到了中心，狂热的球迷群体创造了一种新的“电动”氛围，让起初不安的职业保龄球手习惯了更安静的环境。
Bayside is unlike any other alley I know.
Bayside 与我所知道的任何其他小巷都不一样。
The aesthetic is industrial but modern.
审美是工业化但现代的。
It is airy, with natural light and better food and music than in the old-style centers.
与老式中心相比，这里通风良好，自然光线充足，食物和音乐也更好。
Nor does it create the overstimulating, neon-lit pandemonium of the modern chains.
它也不会造成现代连锁店那种过度刺激、霓虹闪烁的混乱。
I wanted to know how this place became so popular while bucking the industry trends that are ruining the experience for so many of us.
我想知道这个地方是如何变得如此受欢迎，同时又违背了破坏我们很多人体验的行业趋势。
I set up an appointment with the owner, Charlie Mitchell.
我和店主查理·米切尔预约了。
Mitchell, a Maine native, had previously lived in New Orleans, where he bowled at the legendary Rock’n’Bowl, known for its live music.
米切尔是缅因州人，此前曾住在新奥尔良，在那里他在以其现场音乐而闻名的传奇 Rock’n’Bowl 球场打过保龄球。
Later, he worked as a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., before moving back to Maine in 2007.
后来，他在华盛顿特区的美国公民自由联盟担任说客，然后于 2007 年搬回缅因州。
Wanting to recreate the camaraderie he found down South and then in a softball league he joined while in Washington, Mitchell and some friends formed a bowling league at a local Portland center.
为了重建他在南方找到的友情，然后他在华盛顿加入了一个垒球联盟，米切尔和一些朋友在波特兰当地的一个中心组建了一个保龄球联盟。
It grew fast and attracted a beer-drinking, fun-loving crowd—and a waiting list for those who wanted to join.
它发展迅速，吸引了一群喝啤酒、热爱玩乐的人群，并为那些想加入的人准备了一份等候名单。
But he sensed the old-timers looking askance at the new blood.
但他感觉到老人们对新人投以斜视。
One member of the league was Justin Alfond, whose family had owned the Dexter Shoe Company, specializing in, among other things, bowling shoes.
该联盟的成员之一是贾斯汀·阿尔方德 (Justin Alfond)，他的家族拥有德克斯特鞋业公司 (Dexter Shoe Company)，该公司专门生产保龄球鞋等产品。
Mitchell and Alfond had both served in the Maine legislature, where Alfond eventually became the Senate president.
米切尔和阿尔方德都曾在缅因州立法机关任职，阿尔方德最终成为参议院议长。
The two of them decided to open their own place, where they were free to create a newer, less staid style.
他们两人决定开设自己的店，在那里他们可以自由地创造一种更新的、不那么拘谨的风格。
That meant better music and better beer, but also bowling leagues that could become central to the business.
这意味着更好的音乐和更好的啤酒，而且保龄球联赛也可能成为业务的核心。
The original twelve-lane center opened to a strong clientele; the active league that had formed across town took up at Bayside.
最初的十二车道中心向大量顾客开放。整个城镇组成的活跃联盟在贝赛德展开。
It remained a heavy drinking crowd, Mitchell admits, recounting that the first time they brought PBA bowlers in—a non-televised event—things got so wild that some pros ended up bowling barefoot or shirtless.
米切尔承认，现场仍然是一群酗酒的人，他回忆道，他们第一次让 PBA 保龄球手参加一场非电视转播的比赛时，事情变得如此疯狂，以至于一些职业球员最终赤脚或赤裸上身打保龄球。
In 2020, Mitchell became the sole owner.
2020年，米切尔成为唯一所有者。
“Everything here is designed around treating bowling like a sport,” he said.
“这里的一切都是为了将保龄球视为一项运动而设计的，”他说。
Somehow, he has managed to appeal to recreational bowlers, casual league bowlers, and serious bowlers at the top of their game.
不知何故，他成功地吸引了休闲保龄球手、休闲联盟保龄球手和顶级的严肃保龄球手。
It wasn’t by accident, Mitchell said.
米切尔说，这并非偶然。
He traveled the country looking at successful bowling centers.
他走遍全国寻找成功的保龄球中心。
He revisited New Orleans, went to Garage Billiards and Bowl in Seattle—now also absorbed by Big Bowlero—and Brooklyn Bowl in New York.
他重访了新奥尔良，去了西雅图的 Garage Billiards and Bowl（现在也被 Big Bowlero 吸收）和纽约的 Brooklyn Bowl。
His instinct was that a youngish affluent crowd in Portland would respond to something that featured live music, good food and drink, and that could even host weddings.
他的直觉是，波特兰的年轻富裕人群会对以现场音乐、美食和饮料为特色，甚至可以举办婚礼的活动做出反应。
But their success was also built on the networks from Mitchell’s days with an active league.
但他们的成功也建立在米切尔活跃联盟时期的网络基础上。
They drew on what Putnam would identify as social capital.
他们利用了普特南所说的社会资本。
Mitchell’s latest initiative was to replicate the Bayside model in a second location.
米切尔的最新举措是在第二个地点复制 Bayside 模式。
A rival bowling alley made a go of it in South Portland but was hit hard by the pandemic.
一家竞争对手的保龄球馆在南波特兰取得了成功，但受到了流感大流行的严重打击。
The pinsetting machines were not well maintained, resulting in a lot of breakdowns.
置针机维护不善，导致出现很多故障。
The ownership didn’t seem to care about bowling, Mitchell said.
米切尔说，老板似乎并不关心保龄球。
So he bought the place and refurbished it in the style of Bayside.
于是他买下了这个地方，并按照Bayside的风格进行了翻新。
It’s now an appealing ten-lane center called Broadway Bowl that looks out over the Fore River.
现在，它是一个吸引人的十车道中心，名为百老汇碗 (Broadway Bowl)，俯瞰福尔河 (Fore River)。
Yet, he conceded, “we’ve had a little bit more of a challenge than we thought, developing a bowling culture over there.” South Portland, he said, is more working class than the central city, and there was no built-in league base to bolster Broadway Bowl.
然而，他承认，“在那里发展保龄球文化，我们面临的挑战比我们想象的要大一些。”他说，南波特兰比中心城市更工人阶级，而且没有内置的联盟基地来支持百老汇碗。
As I rolled a few games, then ordered a sandwich and tater tots for lunch, I saw another obvious factor: though slightly cheaper than Bayside, it’s not an inexpensive outing.
当我玩了几款游戏，然后点了一份三明治和土豆泥当午餐时，我看到了另一个明显的因素：虽然比 Bayside 稍微便宜一点，但这并不是一次便宜的郊游。
After we spoke at Bayside, Mitchell took me behind the pindecks where we got the rearview of the early 1960s vintage Brunswick pinsetters.
我们在 Bayside 交谈后，Mitchell 带我到了pindecks 后面，在那里我们看到了 1960 年代早期的老式 Brunswick 置瓶机的后视图。
He employs one of the best mechanics in the area, he said, and is too much of a traditionalist to consider a stringpin conversion, but he understands the pressures pulling that way, especially the energy savings.
他说，他雇用了该地区最好的机械师之一，而且他太传统了，不会考虑进行弦销转换，但他理解这种方式的压力，尤其是节能方面的压力。
Eventually, he predicted, most big commercial centers will make the transition.
他预测，最终大多数大型商业中心都会实现转型。
The Bayside style may survive in a few cities where iconoclastic proprietors can tap into an affluent base and create new enthusiasm for league bowling.
海湾风格可能会在一些城市继续存在，打破传统的业主可以利用富裕的基础并为联盟保龄球创造新的热情。
Meanwhile, in bowling strongholds like Michigan and Wisconsin, the small-time centers that have kept bowling affordable by avoiding the glitz will keep getting visits from the stringpin salesmen and perhaps eventually field an offer from the Bowlero division of Lucky Strike Entertainment.
与此同时，在密歇根州和威斯康星州等保龄球大本营，那些通过避免浮华而保持保龄球价格的小型中心将不断受到弦针推销员的拜访，也许最终会收到 Lucky Strike Entertainment 的 Bowlero 部门的报价。
And now, a final twist.
现在，最后的转折。
On the way home from Portland, I was heading right toward one of only two surviving duckpin centers in Massachusetts.
在从波特兰回家的路上，我正朝着马萨诸塞州仅存的两个鸭脚中心之一走去。
It’s located in North Chelmsford just across the Merrimack River from the Bowlero in Lowell.
它位于北切姆斯福德 (North Chelmsford)，与洛厄尔 (Lowell) 的鲍莱罗 (Bowlero) 隔梅里马克河 (Merrimack River) 相望。
The pin gods were leading me to believe I had come to that moment in life when it was time to give duckpin bowling a try.
瓶神让我相信我已经到了人生的那个时刻，是时候尝试一下鸭瓶保龄球了。
I’d bowled candlepins before and was blasé about it.
我以前打过烛台球，对此感到厌倦。
But duckpins turned out to be surprisingly fun.
但事实证明鸭夹非常有趣。
The pin gods were leading me to believe it was time to give duckpin bowling a try.
瓶神让我相信是时候尝试一下鸭瓶保龄球了。
Having set out to explore the future of bowling, I ended up spending a glorious hour with its past.
在开始探索保龄球运动的未来之后，我最终在它的过去度过了一段美好的时光。
North Chelmsford Lanes is a tiny subterranean grotto with six lanes.
北切姆斯福德巷 (North Chelmsford Lanes) 是一个有六条巷子的小型地下石窟。
It’s run by Ron Hennessey and his wife, Robin.
它由罗恩·亨尼西 (Ron Hennessey) 和他的妻子罗宾 (Robin) 经营。
Hennessey, who is sixty-five, bought it a few years ago from John DePalma, a top-level duckpin bowler who had operated it since 1974.
65 岁的亨尼西 (Hennessey) 几年前从约翰·德帕尔玛 (John DePalma) 手中买下了这家酒店，约翰·德帕尔玛 (John DePalma) 是一名顶级鸭脚式保龄球手，自 1974 年以来一直经营这家酒店。
He told me there used to be eight duckpin centers just in the Lowell area alone.
他告诉我，仅在洛厄尔地区曾经就有八个鸭针中心。
This one has been in business since 1943.
这家公司自 1943 年以来一直营业。
The current pinsetters are the same ones that were installed in 1959; Hennessy is the sole mechanic.
目前的置瓶机与 1959 年安装的相同；轩尼诗是唯一的机械师。
“I call this place a bowling alley frozen in time,” he said, and you can see why.
“我称这个地方为时间冻结的保龄球馆，”他说，你可以明白为什么。
Hennessey put a ball in my hand.
亨尼西把一个球放在我手里。
It was the size of a bocce ball, slightly larger than the one used in candlepin bowling.
它的大小与地掷球相当，比烛台保龄球中使用的球稍大。
He showed me how to use the score sheet, going down the column vertically instead of across the page.
他向我展示了如何使用评分表，垂直向下而不是跨页面查看。
As in candlepin, you get three shots per frame.
就像在烛台中一样，每帧你可以拍摄三个镜头。
But you press a button to sweep away the “deadwood” between shots.
但你按下一个按钮就可以清除镜头之间的“死木”。
The pins are shapely like regular pins but short and squat.
这些别针的形状与普通别针相似，但又短又矮。
They tend to fly up and scatter like ducks hearing a shotgun, hence the name.
它们往往会像鸭子听到猎枪声一样飞起并散开，因此得名。
I rolled a game and registered seventy-six.
我玩了一局，注册了七十六分。
It seemed almost impossible to get strikes, and difficult to get spares.
似乎几乎不可能获得罢工，也很难获得备件。
Nobody’s ever rolled a perfect game in duckpins or in candlepins.
没有人曾经在鸭圈或烛台上玩过完美的游戏。
Hennessey walked me down the old wooden lane, which has no sheen of oil.
亨尼西带我走在古老的木巷里，那里没有油的光泽。
The pinsetters were straight out of the industrial age, all visible levers and gears.
置瓶机是直接从工业时代走出来的，所有的杠杆和齿轮都是可见的。
It was thrilling to see them up close, to imagine these same machines working as designed, week after week, now in their sixty-sixth year.
近距离观察它们，想象这些同样的机器按设计工作，一周又一周，现在已经六十六年了，真是令人兴奋。
Hennessey coached me through a second game, keeping score.
亨尼西指导我完成第二场比赛，并保持得分。
I started hitting a few spares and managed to break one hundred.
我开始打几个备胎，最后成功突破了一百个。
There were four women on lanes one and two, practicing.
一号道和二号道上有四名女性正在练习。
They’re in a weeknight league.
他们参加的是周末联赛。
They called my attention to a letterboard on the wall that listed a couple of them in the “Women’s 300 Club.” It took a moment to register, but I realized that meant three straight games above a hundred.
他们让我注意墙上的一块信板，上面列出了“女子 300 俱乐部”中的几个人。注册花了一些时间，但我意识到这意味着连续三场比赛超过一百。
Hennessey pointed out a few scoresheets posted on the entryway wall, showing bowlers who’ve broken two hundred.
亨尼西指着入口墙上张贴的几张记分表，上面显示了已经突破两百分的投球手。
The lines showed spares all the way down, with a few strikes mixed in.
线条一直向下显示着备件，其中还夹杂着一些罢工。
I could imagine trying to get good at this.
我可以想象尝试擅长这一点。
If I someday end up with arthritic knees or hips, this game would be less taxing on my joints.
如果有一天我的膝盖或臀部患有关节炎，这款游戏对我关节的负担就会减轻。
Too bad I’ve discovered duckpins just as it’s dying out.
太糟糕了，我在鸭针即将消失时发现了它。
Could I have been a contender?
我可以成为竞争者吗？
The spell broke on the way home.
魔咒在回家的路上打破了。
I started pondering once again my difficulty in tenpin tournaments.
我再次开始思考我在十瓶锦标赛中遇到的困难。
It’s not impossible to solve; I just need more practice.
这并非不可能解决；我只是需要更多练习。
If I could round up a few teammates by this time next year, I’d like to bowl again in the Green Mountain Open, this time in the team events, the doubles, and the singles.
如果明年这个时候我能召集一些队友，我想再次参加绿山公开赛，这次是团体赛、双打和单打。
After that, we could make the trip to Reno for the 2026 USBC Open.
之后，我们可以前往里诺参加 2026 年 USBC 公开赛。
I want the tournament experience while I’m still able to hoist a fifteen-pound ball.
我想要在还能举起十五磅重的球的同时获得锦标赛体验。
And while bowling is still bowling.
虽然保龄球仍然是保龄球。